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Ms Cara Rau
Ms Cara Rau
Cara matriculated from the National School of the Arts (NSA) in Johannesburg majoring in Ballet in 2014, where she trained under former Soloist of the South African Ballet Theatre (SABT), Sarah King, and Chilean-born ballet master, Manuel Norambuena and won the award for Best Ballet Dancer in her year. In Grade 11, she was selected by Mzansi Ballet to perform in their production of Don Quixote.
Ms Rau passed both Cecchetti Advanced 2 and RAD Advanced 1 with Distinction, and won the highly-contested Mabel Ryan Award at the age of 13. When she was just 15 years old, Cara was selected to train with the world-renowned Cuban coach, Ana Julia Bermúdez de Castro Varcárcel, in preparation for the South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC).
During her high-school career, she trained at the South African Ballet Theatre (SABT) Academy under former SABT Prima Ballerina, Bernise Silvius, and former Senior Soloist, Lauren Summerly. She toured with the company to Knysna for their annual fundraiser.
In addition to training at the SABT Academy and NSA during high school, Cara trained in the Russian Vaganova method for 5 years at the Russian Ballet Academy of South Africa (RBASA) under Slou Saparovna Akimguereeva.
In January 2015 she joined the Corps de Ballet of Cape Town City Ballet, where she travelled with the company to perform at the Grahamstown Arts Festival, and performed in Carmen and Thumbelina at Artscape.
In September 2015 at the age of 19, she began her year-long training at the prestigious Perm State Choreographic Academy (ПГХУ) in Russia, obtaining a certificate in Ballet under legendary teacher Nina Petrovna Kostareva.
In 2016, Cara joined the Wilmington Ballet Company in North Carolina in the USA, where she performed soloist roles in their season of The Nutcracker. She taught Ballet as part of an English language curriculum at a public school in Moscow in 2018, and, in 2019, she was appointed Head Ballet Coach at SportDance Mauritius, where she coached high-performance (HP) rhythmic gymnasts.
Ms Rau speaks Russian, among other languages, and holds a Masters degree in an unrelated field.
Photo credits: Jana Rau. Shot on location in South Africa.
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